The relentless march of time does not appear to hinder the will of many musicians to simply get out in front of an enthusiastic crowd.

Artists who have seen it all many times before seem to draw on bottomless reserves of stamina when it comes to performing live. Two such stalwarts are back in on Tyneside this week when they will be treated, once again, to the warmest of receptions.

Wilko Johnson and his band play a new venue (for them) when they take the stage at Wylam Brewery (former Science & Engineering Museum in Exhibition Park) next Thursday night.

The former John Peter Wilkinson morphed into Canvey Island’s very own living monument to a muscular form of R ‘n’ B which was originally inspired by his guitarist mentor, Mick Green, of Johnny Kidd & the Pirates.

Wilko, fresh from gaining an English degree at Newcastle university, even copied Green’s orthodox approach by playing his Fender Telecaster guitar in right-hand mode despite being left-handed.

From the early 70s he plied his trade in the powerhouse quartet which was Dr Feelgood and any prospect of teaching (or writing poetry) which he did for around a year, disappeared in the rear-view mirror of the band’s Ford Transit as success came calling.

The vagaries of a life in popular music soon saw to it that the bright lights eventually faded and the top-10 albums – Stupidity (1976) was a number one album – of that decade ceased.

When he left Dr Feelgood in 1977, he formed the Solid Senders, then the Wilko Johnson Band before stints with The Blockheads. However, the machine-gun stance and the jerking, walkabout stage antics had left an indelible impression, not least on the nascent punk movement, and the world was not about to forget him.

The widely reported health issues have thankfully been consigned to history – covered in infinite detail in his autobiography, Don’t You Leave Me Here (2016) – and Wilko, bassist Norman Watt-Roy and drummer Dylan Howe are back in live action with a recently released “new” album.

The record, on the iconic Chess Records imprint, is called I Keep It To Myself: The Best of Wilko Johnson. Johnson has many gifts (poetry, painting, astronomy among them) but he is a magnetic presence on stage (Watt-Roy runs him close at times) and the music is as potent as it ever was. Welcome back to Tyneside, as he once told me, his home from home.

More senior than Wilko in terms of age, if not recording experience, is Steven Gene Wold aka Seasick Steve.

Seasick Steve on the main stage (Image: Perthshire Advertiser)

Originally from Oakland, California he has called many places home (around 60, apparently) and held down numerous menial jobs, since then.

His emergence in 2006 may have been a music-media dream – particularly the hobo-style image and homemade instruments – but he had played widely for years prior to that. His father was a boogie-woogie pianist but it was to be bluesman, KC Douglas (author of the classic Mercury Blues), who piqued his interest in guitars rather than the piano. Douglas worked at the garage of Steve’s grandfather, and as a result lessons were readily available.

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Later, he roamed across the US and even busked in Paris for a while. Wold had previously spent time as a recording engineer/producer, working with indie bands and the experiences were to prove very handy as the mainstream world embraced him.

Eight albums in just over 10 years, appearances at seemingly every major music festival and even a guest slot on Top Gear proved just how popular and productive he was.

The last record, Keeping The Horse Between Me And The Ground (issued last autumn) was his third in four years and even included a reflective version of John Hartford’s country classic, Gentle On My Mind, among the more typically raucous slide-guitar blues.

He arrives at the O2 Academy next Friday night (21st) but he will make another visit to Newcastle in August when he will play as the specially invited guest of former Beach Boy, Brian Wilson, in Times Square in August.

Another veteran guitarist is Denny Walley, once sideman to both Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart, and he joins Liverpool’s Muffin Men at the Cluny tonight.

The Muffin Men specialise in their own versions of Zappa material and have been paying due homage to the prolific Zappa for nearly 30 years. They have had about a dozen of Zappa’s original musicians come over to join them and Walley’s slide-guitar/vocals will play a prominent part in their set just as they did on Zappa’s Bongo Fury and Joe’s Garage.

On Sunday night, the Brooklyn singer/songwriter, Rebecca Pronsky, plays a show in Cluny 2. Pronsky, who has been singing since the age of eight, inhabits the area where folk, country, rockabilly and jazz collide.

New York country songwriter, Rebecca Pronsky (Image: Publicity picture)

Her latest album (her fifth), Known Objects, was issued last year and once again pairs her with her musical partner, guitarist Rich Bennett. Pronsky’s Only Daughter album (2013) won her much critical praise and vocal comparisons to the likes of Nanci Griffith and Stevie Nicks. Bennett also drew praise for his production work. This is the penultimate stop on her eight-date UK tour.

Having mentioned the return of three noted guitarists it would be rude (and indeed remiss) not to acknowledge the return to the Cluny next Wednesday/Thursday night – for two sold-out shows – by the young guitar pair, Showhawk Duo.

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Jake Wright and Mikhail Asanovic bring their ADM (Acoustic Dance Music) to the Ouseburn venue and operate at the same level of intensity as the Mexican duo of Rodrigo Y Gabriella. The sold-out signs for two nights tells its own story !

Finally, ska/reggae fans have a chance to catch the Toasters in Cluny 2 next Wednesday night for a couple of hours of their favourite sounds from a touring collective which is drawn from several long-standing exponents of the timeless genre.